Specialising on Demand

Nov 26, 2014

Introduction

The key reason for performing a strictness analysis in our work is to know when it is safe to perform work before it is needed. This work can then be sparked off and performed in parallel to the main thread of execution. Using the projection-based analysis we are using allows to know not only which arguments are needed, but how much (structurally) of the argument is needed. We convert the projections into strategies and then spark off those strategies in parallel.

Let’s assume that our analysis determines that function f needs both of its arguments. This allows us to convert

... f e1 e2 ...

into

... let a = e1
b = e2
in (s1 a) `par` (s2 b) `par` (f a b) ...

where s1 and s2 are the strategies generated from the projections on those expressions.

The Problem

Dealing with Different Demands

In the majority of situations there is nothing more to think about. Because each projection transformer is a function from the demand on a functions result to the demand on its arguments we can perform the appropriate transformation on f for each demand.

For instance if at another call to the same f from above has a lesser demand on its result, then the transformation might yield

... let a = e1
in (s1 a) `par` (f a e2) ...

Different Demands on the Calling Function

The issue is not when a function has two different demands at two calling sites, that’s dealt with ‘for free’ using the transformation above. The issue is when there are multiple possible demands at the same call site.

This can happen when there are different demands on the calling function, for example:

func a b = ... f e1 e2 ...

Different demands on func may (and often will) mean different demands on the result of f. This in turn means that different transformations would be appropriate. Let’s say this results in having two different demands on f. One demand results in the first transformation (the one with two pars) and the other results in the second. How do we reconcile this possible difference?

Solutions

Safety First

While I can’t find how people dealt with this issue in the literature, a sensible approach would be to take the join of the various demands on func and perform the transformation with the resulting context. This is what I imagine others have done when facing a similar situation. It is safe, and does not add more code to the program.

More Parallelism (still safe)

The shame of taking the join of the demands is that it results in the loss of potential parallelism. Taking a look at the two transformed versions of f above, it would be a shame to only have the second transformation (the one with only one par) just because it is safer, even though we know that for some calls of func it is safe to evaluate both arguments.

To avoid this we can clone the function func. One clone for each demand, allowing us to have the ‘more parallel’ version when it is safe, and keep the ‘less parallel’ version in the appropriate cases. Note, we do not have to go cloning all the functions with versions for every possible demand. Instead we can do the following for each function:

Determine which demands are actually present in the program

In the body of the function, do the different demands result in differing demands for a specific function call?

If no, no cloning

If yes, clone the function for each demand and re-write the call-sites to call the appropriate clone

Applying the above procedure to our hypothetical situation would result in the following

Conclusion

I think this is an interesting way to further specialise so I’ve started implementing it. I am giving myself until the end of tomorrow (Nov. 27th) to have it fully functional, and then we can even compare the two approaches.